Island



e. BHCKFORD.

Watch Regulator.

No. 19.744. Patented March 30, 1858.

DANA BICKFORD, OF \VESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND.

REGULATOR FOR TIMEKEEPERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,744., dated March 30, 1858.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, DANA Brcnrono, of lVesterly, in the county of Washington and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Compensating Regulators for Vatches, Chronometers, and other Timekeepers lVhich are Controlled by a Balance; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure I, is a top view of a regulator with my improvement. Fig. 11, is a side view of the same partly in section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in a construction of the compensating regulator which affords great facility for correcting the compensation.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to de scribe its construction and operation.

A, is a portion of my regulator consisting of a straight lever applied like the regulator commonly employed in the lever watch, but formed with a segment-shaped piece B, which is grooved to receive the compensating curb C, in which are placed the curb pins (4, a, which regulate the effective length of the hair spring. The compensating curb C, is intended to be composed of laminae of brass and steel so proportioned in thickness that by its expansion and contraction the pins a, a, may be caused to move as nearly as possible directly along the outer coil of the hair spring. It is made of such length that its entire expansion and contraction will move the pins 0, a, along the hair spring a little farther than is necessary to effect the compensation, and is secured in the groove of the segment B, by one of a number of set screws 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

which screw through tapped holes arranged side by side as near as possible to each other on the outer side of the groove. All but one of these set screws are prevented con fining the curb. It is obvious that the effective length of the curb is the length of that part which is inclosed between the curb pins (4, a, and that set screw which confines it, and hence by tightening one screw and loosening another the effective length of the curb and the degree of compensation is va ried without moving the curb in the groove in the segment B. The degree of compensation varies in the same ratio as the effective length of the curb.

The above described method of varying the length of the compensating curb aiiords great facility for correcting the compensa tion, as the efiective length of the curb is varied without shifting the curb pins (1, c, on the hair spring. hen the compensation is insuflicient it is corrected by simply tightening a set screw farther from the curb pins, and when it is too great it is corrected by tightening a set screw nearer to the curb pins, in either case loosening the screw which previously held the curb so that the curb may be left perfectly free to expand and contract.

I do not claim the compensating curb; but

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Fitting the compensating curb to a curved groove or its equivalent furnished with a number of set screws which operate as described to secure the curb in its place and to adjust or vary the effective length thereof and thus constitute a means of correcting its compensation.

DANA BICKFORD. Witnesses:

J. M. PENDLETON, D. F. STILLMAN. 

